To Whom it May Concern:

For twenty-five years plus, beginning in 1972, I have been involved one way or another in selecting motivational speakers for national and regional meetings. Often times, it was my sole responsibility to make the selection. I have tried the highly accredited individual: I have tried the highly recommended individual; I have tried the individual that specialized in the fields in which the three different companies I worked for were involved; and of course, I have tried the individual with a combination of these skills.

Some of the speakers have been good; some not so good. If I had a consistent complaint, it was that the speaker's presentation appeared to be "canned" -- not at all tailored for our company. Right away, that speaker's message loses some credibility. The individuals that attended the meetings over the years were well educated and well trained professionals, and they would immediately pick up on the fact that the individual making the presentation spent too little time in preparation.

For this year's Annual Meeting, we selected Roger Reece of Fuddwhacker Consulting for a two-day presentation. I specifically asked that he tailor his presentation for General and Sales Managers in the hospitality industry, and that he focus on the basics, as the theme for the meeting was, "A new Melennium, yes-- but the basics are still important!" It has been my observation that the simple things that one takes for granted -- for example, smile when you answer the telephone -- were simply not happening routinely at Someplace(s) Different any more. We were getting very good at our jobs technically, but we were losing some of our humanity.

Roger Reece and his character, a.k.a. Buford P. Fuddwhacker, did an absolutely outstanding job for us. I asked each of our attendees to critique the five day meeting -- what they liked or didn't like, and what they would like to see more of or less of. All but two commented more than just favorably about Mr. Reece's presentations. The two exceptions mentioned above were attendees who simply didn't comment at all about Mr. Reece. From my experience, I can say that no speaker that I have ever used has been as well received or as effective.

Mr. Reece spent time familiarizing himself with our particular segment of the hospitality industry. He then tailored his presentation in such a way that you would have thought he did only hospitality motivational and tutorial training. The support material that he used for his presentation, and the techniques used in presenting the material were first class.

Without hesitation, I would recommend Roger Reece and Fuddwhacker Consulting to any organization requiring a motivational speaker. There was excellent material, presented in a memorable fashion, presented in a way to encourage the individual to re-evaluate his/her every day activities. I underline the word "memorable." So often in the past, when I have brought a speaker in the comments have been, "We've heard it all before.", We've done the personality profiling.", We've done the role playing.", and frankly, those comments were "on the money".

Roger's approach is designed to cleverly make a point, while at the same time, to encourage the individual to critique their own approach and performance. Roger is a professional in every sense of the word, and he was a real asset to our meeting. So much so, that a number of General Managers asked if we could develop a program with Roger to train certain individuals at the property level.

Again, I would recommend Fuddwhacker Consulting, without any hesitation, to participate in your next meeting.

Sincerely,

C.Fred Weeks, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
Someplace(s) Different Hospitality Group
Picton, Ontario

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